AF vet preparing to command space station

Oct. 9, 2012 - 08:53AM
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Last Updated: Oct. 9, 2012 - 08:53AM |

INDIANAPOLIS — An astronaut and former Air Force colonel is in Russia getting ready to become commander of the International Space Station.

Kevin Ford is scheduled to launch on a Russian Soyuz capsule with two Russian cosmonauts to the space station Oct. 23 and remain in orbit until March. The 52-year-old, who grew up in Montpelier, Ind., will spend much of that time as commander of the space station's six-person crew.

Ford told WIBC-FM that the crew has undergone much training on science projects dealing with fluid dynamics, combustion and medicine.

This will be Ford's second space flight. He was the space shuttle Discovery's pilot for a 2009 space station mission.

Ford is a graduate of Blackford High School and the University of Notre Dame.